Tag Archives: South Florida Law Blog

A Two-Pronged Loan Modification Analysis

Secrets from the trenches by Roy Oppenheim, Oppenheim Law – South Florida Law Blog

A loan modification can be a ray of sunshine on a cloudy day for many homeowners facing foreclosure; especially when this year’s statistics show that homeowners are increasingly receiving loan modifications from their respective lenders. Although this is great news, it’s not much help unless you know how to make the loan modification work in your favor. Remember, banks are friends of fair weather that lend you an umbrella in fair weather and ask for it back when it begins to rain. Having a front row seat to the foreclosure crisis has proven that loan modifications, if not tailored to the homeowner’s particular financial constraints, can only help postpone the inevitable, a trip back into the trenches. Let’s face it; during a loan modification, the bank’s job is to conjure up an arrangement that gets the bank the most money possible while keeping you in your home. Usually the banks will tweak the interest rate until the monthly payment under the loan modification becomes affordable. Needless to say, don’t jump into a deal you can’t afford out of desperation! The best way to approach a loan modification is to use a two-pronged approach. Continue reading→

Originally conceived to recognize the social and economic achievements of American workers, Labor Day has, for many, just become another day off from work when we can go to the beach, invite friends and family over for a bar-b-que or just kick back, relax and read a good book.

Just as Memorial Day kicks off Summer, Labor Day signals the end of it.

For me, Labor Day is a time for reflection – to think about what I, and my team of dedicated attorneys and others do everyday in the trenches.

Mahatma Gandhi once said: “You must be the change you wish to see in the world”

For us at Oppenheim Law we endeavor every day to use the law in a positive way to effectuate change and to protect our clients’ constitutional rights to due process thereby ensuring that the system is fair and that no matter how big or powerful a bank or adversary may be, they too must follow the law; as no one is above this institution.

For us, our work is a labor of love. In the last year, we have helped countless Floridians remain in their homes as we successfully defended against big banks’ efforts to steamroll them out of their homes.

Labor Day has many meanings depending upon whom you speak. For those who have found themselves unemployed during the “Great Recession” it’s been a grim reminder of what they don’t have. Their labor has been simply trying to make it from one day to the next.

For others, Labor Day is about family: Mothers go into labor and then they labor for years after giving birth to raise a family.

In short, Labor Day isn’t a one-size-fit’s all event. It is a day to honor all Americans regardless of the work they do.

So, on behalf of my family and staff I would like to take a moment to celebrate everyone’s achievements and to wish you all a safe and enjoyable Labor Day Weekend.

In The Trenches,

Roy Oppenheim

Roy Oppenheim is Florida’s leading real estate and foreclosure defense attorney. He left Wall Street for Main Street and, in 1989, founded Oppenheim Law , Weston Title , and the South Florida Law Blog with his partner and wife, Ellen. His entrepreneurial spirit and passion for helping to defend homeowners led Roy to start “In the Trenches” where he speaks out for the people and their constitutional rights.

COMMENTARY | It’s taken a while for America’s economic engine to gain some speed, but it finally appears that the nation is back on track after having derailed when the housing market crashed.

Mortgage giant Fannie Mae, which keeps tabs of such things, has released its full-year forecast for both the economy and the housing market.

The improving job market is helping to drive demand for new mortgages despite interest rates, which have steadily risen since May from near record lows.

The jobless rate will probably decline for the rest of this year to a five-year low of 7 percent in the first quarter of 2014, according to Fannie Mae.

It’s that kind of news that helps to fuel what I have described in the past as the real estate industrial complex. As the job market improves and people can afford to buy homes, they also need to hire people to either build those homes or fix up existing ones.

Demand for homes is on the rise, which means those lots that have sat vacant for years will see new homes begin to spout. Contracts for future construction in South Florida shot up 38 percent in July, according to a report from McGraw Hill Construction.

Electricians, plumbers, roofers, interior designers, those who sell fences and hurricane shutters — the list goes on and on — will all benefit.

Just in the last few days alone both Lowe’s and Home Depot reported significantly improved earnings. Lowe’s second quarter net income rose 26 percent, beating Wall Street expectations. Home Depot also credited the housing recovery for its 17 percent earnings increase.

Banks are starting to get their construction departments up and going after years of inactivity.

Those to benefit at first will be the big builders that managed to survive the downturn. The smaller builders have since gone by the wayside. However, like any life cycle, there will be new players who come into the market and we will see a rebirth of the industry.

With all of that said, Fannie Mae Chief Economist Doug Duncan leaves us with this one caveat: “The biggest risk to this forecast is the expected reduction in the Federal Reserve’s asset purchases, which would likely put additional upward pressure on interest rates and lead to some volatility in capital markets. Although the nature and timing of the tapering are still to be determined, we continue to expect the Fed will scale back its asset purchases and end the program by spring. In addition, we may see some fiscal tightening this fall as the debate over federal spending and the debt ceiling takes place.”

As Bette Davis said in All About Eve, “Fasten your seat belts. It’s going to be a bumpy night.”

The good news is at least the train is expected to keep running on track and hopefully on time.

Real Estate and Foreclosure Defense Attorney, Roy Oppenheim

Roy Oppenheim is Florida’s leading real estate and foreclosure defense attorney. He left Wall Street for Main Street and, in 1989, founded Oppenheim Law , Weston Title , and the South Florida Law Blog with his partner and wife, Ellen. His entrepreneurial spirit and passion for helping to defend homeowners led Roy to start “In the Trenches” where he speaks out for the people and their constitutional rights.

If Floridians continue to get free houses because of the state’s five-year statute of limitation on debt collection, it could be the kick in the pants lenders need to expedite the more than 300,000 foreclosure cases clogging Florida’s courts.

Too often, banks file foreclosure lawsuits, then let the cases linger. While the houses sit in limbo, homeowner association dues go unpaid and neighbors and neighborhoods suffer. In many cases, the delay is caused by the bank’s inability to prove that it owns the mortgage, because of lost or fraudulent documents.

As The Post’s Kimberly Miller reported, the delays, and in some cases legal missteps, have cost some lenders the very property that served as collateral for the mortgage. Recently, the lender on a Boca Raton waterfront mansion in foreclosure since 2008 voluntarily dismissed the case in Palm Beach County court after the bank improperly tried to introduce a copy of the original mortgage it said had been lost in the initial filing.

Attorney Roy Oppenheim, who represents the homeowner, said the move violated civil procedure because the bank did not amend its pleadings to include the note or notify the borrower and the court that it existed. Florida allows five years to sue on a debt. This common contract law applies to foreclosures.

In the case of the Boca mansion, Mr. Oppenheim says, the bank can’t refile the foreclosure suit becausethe statute of limitations has expired since that initial filing in 2008. The bank wants the dismissal to be reversed. In similar cases, though, courts have ruled against the lender. The owner of the mansion, purchased in 2003 for $8.4 million with a mortgage of $6.8 million, may get the 13,000-square-foot home debt-free.

It’s unclear how many foreclosure cases the statute of limitation affects, but it could be thousands. Palm Beach County has about 1,550 cases that are five years or older.

The statute doesn’t apply automatically. Borrowers must raise it as a defense in court, and most borrowers don’t defend their foreclosures. Even if only a few win their homes debt-free, though, banks will wake up and pay attention.

‍Rhonda ‍Swan for The Post Editorial Board

Real Estate and Foreclosure Defense Attorney, Roy Oppenheim

Real estate attorney and foreclosure defense attorney, Roy Oppenheim left Wall Street for Main Street, foundingOppenheim Law along with his wife Ellen in 1989 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and is vice president of Weston Title and creator of the South Florida Law Blog, named the best business and technology blog by the South Florida Sun-Sentinel. Follow Roy on Twitter at @OpLaw or like Oppenheim Law on Facebook .